AWC runs past Phoenix
Matadors hold Bears to just 114 yards of offense; Oliver, Walker run wild
Phoenix may only be a one-win team, but the Bears at least showed in their first six games of the season that they could move the football a little.
Entering Saturday night’s meeting with No. 11 Arizona Western at Veterans Memorial Stadium, Phoenix was averaging more than 350 yards of offense per game.
But the Bears didn’t reach even a third of that total against the Matadors’ defense.
AWC held Phoenix to just 114 yards of offense while two Matador running backs — freshman John Oliver (182 rush yards) and sophomore Kendon Walker (162) — each topped that number themselves in a 48-7 AWC victory.
It was the third straight win for the Matadors (5-2 overall, 3-1 Western States Football League), whose prospects of even qualifying for a bowl game were in question just a few weeks ago but who now have their sights set on a WSFL title.
“We just wanted to get through (this game) healthy,” AWC coach Tom Minnick said. “We’ve got a couple of guys banged up. Luckily we have a bye week (next week) so we can get healthy, because the last three games are going to determine if we win the (league) championship or not.”
AWC closes the regular season with three straight games against ranked opponents — vs. No. 8 Snow (Oct. 27), at No. 10 Eastern Arizona (Nov. 3) and vs. No. 19 Pima (Nov. 10).
Phoenix (1-7, 0-4) is not close to the level of any of the aforementioned three, and looked the part of a one-win team Saturday from the second quarter on.
The Bears actually scored the first touchdown of a game — recovering a muffed punt in the end zone — and led 7-6 at the end of the first quarter, but were outscored 42-0 from then on.
Phoenix gained more than 25 yards on just one of 11 offensive possessions, and converted just 1 of 12 third downs (and 1 of 3 fourth downs).
Bears quarterback Cameron Yowell completed just 9 of 25 attempts for 107 yards and was intercepted twice, both times by sophomore DaQuirs Griffin. Yowell was also sacked six times, which contributed to Phoenix’s -31 rushing yards in the second half (7 rushing yards for the game).
The Bears had two goal-to-go situations in the second half, though neither were of the offense’s doing — the first came after a bad snap on AWC attempted punt set Phoenix up at the 5-yard line, and the second came on a drive which featured four AWC defensive penalties. Both times, the Matadors defense forced a turnover on downs.
“The defense did a good job,” Minnick said. “There’s times we play well, times we play dumb football. We’ve just got to play smart football and we’ll be alright.”
For AWC, redshirt sophomore quarterback Logan Byrd had has most efficient game as a Matador — completely 11 of 16 attempts for 106 yards and one touchdown (4 yards to freshman tight end Bryce Parker — but AWC didn’t need him to do much after half.
After taking a 20-7 lead into the locker room, Oliver and Walker put the AWC offense on their backs.
Oliver rushed for 119 yards in the second half alone, and finished the game with 182 yards on 19 carries — and touchdown runs of 15 and 63 yards.
Walker wasn’t far behind, with 120 yards in the second half to give him 162 for the game (on just 10 carries). He also had a pair of long scoring bursts, from 33 yards out in the third quarter and 77 in the fourth.
“Both those kids can run,” Minnick said. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
The Matadors were playing without freshman running back Jadon Hayes,
the back-to-back WSFL Offensive Player of the Week, who was away from the team attending to family matters.
“If we can get better these last three weeks we’ll have a shot,” Minnick said. “But it’s going to hit them right in the face because we’ve got Snow, then Eastern, then Pima. They’re all three good football teams, so it could go either way.”